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[Steve Reichenbach]

>      I agree with many things in your overall post.  I don't
> necessarily disagree with the above statement.  Just playing devil's
> advocate I do have a question.  If you are employed by someone other
> than yourself and you don't jump at your boss's commands or even ignore
> your boss's commands what is the likely result?  I know what would
> happen to me regardless of how much success I can show.

What you say is true of positions that aren't key to a company's
success.  If an hourly employees doesn't do exactly as told, they
are probably going to lose their jobs.  But that isn't the case for
talented people in key positions.

Most organizations typically give key personnel the opportunity
to use their best judgment and then be judged on their production.
Successful performers typically will not work long for an organization
that doesn't afford them that opportunity.  Most of the talented and
creative people I know (and many people I know are talented and creative)
are going to do things the way they think is best and figure if that
isn't what the current employer wants, some organization will give
them a better situation.

To more directly answer your question, I am employed by someone else
(the very same organization that employed Solich) and I don't jump at
the command of my "boss" (the department chairman) and sometimes ignore
my boss' commands.  (That won't surprise anyone who knows me ;-).)
That said, thankfully, he doesn't operate that way --- giving
commands.  When I held the job my boss does, I would not have expected
to be able to issue commands about the work details to key employees.
Of course, tenure makes some difference in the way we operate, but
it is not much different than I have seen in government (e.g., NASA)
or industry research labs, which are similar places where talented
people are expected to be very productive.

I believe that what I say is true of most the way that most organizations
treat successful people in key positions, but of course there are
exceptions where bosses bully their employees.  Sometimes those
people succeed in the short term, but I don't believe that approach
can be sustained and continue to attract and retain talented people.

To argue my point, I would say that some top coaches were turned
off by what happened with Solich.  Urban Meyer would have been one
of the top candidates for UNL, but reportedly wasn't interested
for that reason.  He may have turned down Notre Dame for the same
reason.  (He might have disdained both for other reasons, but my
point is clear.)

I still think Pederson did well to hire Callahan (after really
bungling the firing and job search) and I think Callahan may be
successful (though he didn't look good the first year).  It is
too early to tell, but I hope Callahan does it the way he thinks
is best, because I think it'd be crazy to have Pederson dictating
the details of the football program to Callahan or Solich or any
other coach.